Rand: I Think We Have 58 Votes to Defund Planned Parenthood

Kentucky Senator and Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul said that he thinks there are about 58 senators who will vote to defund Planned Parenthood on Tuesday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel.

Rand said “I’m horrified by these videos and and everybody is. When i think of ultrasound, I think of the pictures of my kids before they were born and the happiness we had. To imagine that doctors are using ultrasound to manipulate the body around, turn the body around to take body parts from a baby, it just — it sickens me. And so, I’ve been fighting to defund Planned Parenthood. I don’t think they should get any taxpayer dollars. And we got good news today, we are going to get a vote on this. The Senate will vote on defunding Planned Parenthood before we leave in August.”

Rand stated of the vote, “there’s at least three or four Democrats that we think we have a chance of getting. That gets us close. We’re up to about 58 then. So, we’re going to work very hard. I think there are some pro-choice Democrats, there are many pro-choice Americans who are horrified by this. Because they don’t think of abortion as turning the baby around and harvesting baby hearts, and showing kidneys and livers and lungs and hearts that are then being resold. The gruesomeness of this cannot be overstated. And I think we may well get some Democrats who are going to say, ‘Enough’s enough, we can’t keep funding a group that does this.”

He added that the Department of Justice should “absolutely” look into Planned Parenthood. And “Do you think when these young women are signing consent for their procedure, they know that they’re signing a consent that their baby’s body parts will be sold? I’m guessing that when you go in to have an abortion, they’re saying that this consent is for the procedure. And I really wonder if the women know that the baby’s kidneys and liver and heart are going to be sold off.”

Rand continued, “I think the whole story’s going to come forward. I’m happy we’re going have a vote in the Senate, and we’re going to try to take away every last penny of taxpayer dollars. People have to realize this has nothing to do with women’s health. We have community health centers that provide all kinds of women’s health. There is $5 billion being spent in the community health centers. And everything that’s done at Planned Parenthood is done at a community health center, except abortion. There’s no reason to have any federal going to Planned Parenthood.”

He also stated, “As I go into the African-American communities, what I’m finding is many go to church, many are religious, just like white people. And I think that they are horrified by all of this. And I think that — same way as the rest of us. So, I think that really you’re going to find that, as we begin to talk about some of these issues, these aren’t Republican/Democrats, they’re not white/black issues. These are just issues of humanity.”

Rand further commented on Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, “she was a eugenicist, she thought that you could use abortion to try to get rid of the people who were interior. And I think this is why you’re also finding that a lot of people who have kids with disabilities are horrified by this whole idea that we’re going to get rid of those who are less than perfect. Well, we’re all less than perfect in some way or another. And I think really, when people begin to realize that what we’re talking about here is babies and baby parts, I think people are going to reevaluate the issue. And I hope this is a wake-up call for America to say, ‘You know what? Life’s important. I mean, the mystery of life. We can’t even understand everything about where life came from. But, we certainly ought to respect it, or give more respect to it.'”